Chap. 242.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3385 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended. (S. B. 216.)

Approved March 24, 1914.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section thirty-three hundred and eighty-five, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

Sec. 3385. Bill of exceptions.—In the trial of a case of law, in
which an appeal, writ of error or supersedeas lies to a higher court,
a party may except to any opinion of the court, and tender a bill
of exceptions, which, if the truth of the case be fairly stated therein,
the judge shall sign, and it shall be a part of the record of the
case. Any bills of exception may be tendered to judge and signed
by him, either during term at which the opinion of the court is an-
nounced, to which exception is taken, or within thirty days after
the end of such term, either in term time or in vacation, whether
another term of the circuit court has intervened or not, or at such
other time as the parties, by consent entered of record, may agree
upon, and any bills of exceptions so tendered to and signed by the
judge, as aforesaid, either in term time or in vacation, shall be a
part of the record of the case, and in every such case when the
order of the court fails to show that the time agreed upon by the
parties within which such bill of exceptions may be filed was by
consent of parties, if such be the fact, the certificate of the court in
the bill of exceptions shall be sufficient or the court after signing
the same may certify that fact to the supreme court of appeals. The
same rule shall apply when cases are heard or opinions are rendered
in vacation, in which case the party excepting shall have thirty days
from the day that such opinion is rendered. This act shall apply
to criminal cases as well as to civil cases.

2. Any and all bills of exception in any case, in which final
judgment has not been rendered by appellate court at the time that
this act goes into effect, which may have been signed by the judge
within the tinie and in the manner herein prescribed, shall be deemed
and treated as a part of the record of such case.

3. In order that this act may be given effect .as soon as prac-
ticable an emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall be in
force from its passage.